Mascot dubbed 'Bruiser' at game

Baylor's mascot now has a new name to go along with his new face -- Bruiser. Students, alumni and fans were introduced to Bruiser during the Baylor and University of Texas football game.

A total of 1,456 students voted in the 'Name the New Mascot' contest sponsored by the athletic department. According to Dee Ann Duke, assistant director of university marketing, Bruiser was the runaway victor with 609 votes. The other top five names were: Bubba -- 367, Brutus -- 232, Grendel -- 131, Judge -- 86 and Samson -- 31.

'This is the students' mascot, this is what they voted for,' Duke said.

While the mascot's name was announced at the homecoming game, the winner of the contest was not contacted until Monday morning. The name 'Bruiser' was submitted by 16 different students. The winner, Steve James, a Barrington, Ill., senior, was chosen by a random drawing in order to ensure fairness. James will receive two round-trip airline tickets for winning the contest. James said he planned to use the tickets to go to Durham, N.C. to visit friends at Duke University.

'Bruiser was actually the first thing that popped in my mind because of the snarl on the bear's face,' James said. 'When people think about Baylor football, one of the first things they think of is the mascot ... future Baylorites can relate to the name.'

After hearing the announcement of the mascot's name, many students expressed their approval.

'It's important that we have a name for the mascot, we're used to him having a name ... we can't just call him the bright green bear,' Julie Flint, a Plano sophomore, said. 'The new name is more intimidating. The whole point of the new logo and mascot was to be more intimidating ... it has more attitude.'

The previous mascot, Bob, did not help promote a competitive, tough image, according to some students.

'It's about time that Baylor showed some toughness, the new name does that,' Joe Zylka, a Rockwall junior, said.

While many students agreed with the new name, some students felt the name Bruiser was not appropriate.

'It's nice that we have a name for the mascot, but I don't know if it exactly exemplifies what Baylor stands for ... a Christian university that has a mascot named Bruiser; it's ironic,' Jasmine Fischer, a Vail, Colo., junior, said. 'We could have chosen something that correlates with our traditions, like Sammy for Samuel Brooks. Bruiser just sounds barbaric.'